The main headquarters building at U.S. Army Fort Leonard Wood. (via Wikimedia Commons / DanMS)

The commanding general of Fort Leonard Wood says the Army is aggressively investigating sexual assault complaints.

Major General David Quantock met with reporters on Wednesday, one day after 17 current and former soldiers filed a federal class-action lawsuit accusing the Pentagon of failing to take their complaints of sexual abuse by other soldiers seriously.

The complaint alleges that an unnamed Fort Leonard Wood chaplain told a female soldier that "it must have been God's will for her to be raped" and suggested she attend church more often.

Quantock didn't specifically discuss the lawsuit, but he noted that reports of sexual assault at Missouri's largest military base declined from 57 incidents in 2009 to 28 in 2010.